The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1887-04-14
THE FoLMEs OF OUR YOUTH
The Last Article from the Pen OF
Henry Ward Beecher-The Great
Preachers Opinion on Dancing
A Prophecy.

The following article, from the pen
of the late Henry Ward Beecher
was written by him only 4 fortnight
previous to his death. He bad
promised that lie would contribute
an article to tie last number OF the
Byoohlyn iNugazine under its OLD
name, and in accordance therewlth
the paper given below was written
bv him. 1t is probably one OF LIS
latest, If not the last, contribution u
periodical! literature:
'.Old age has the foundation OF us
iov or it's sorrow laid IN youth
Every stone laid in the foundation
takes hold of every stone IN the wall
up to the very caves Of the building;
and every deed, right or wrong, that
transpires in youth reaches forward,
and has q relation to all the alter
part Of mans life. a mans life is
not like the contiguous cells in q
bees honeycomb, it is more like the
separate parts Of q plant which un'
folds ont of itself, every part bearing
relation to all that antecede. That
which one does in youth is the root,
and all the afterparts, middle age
end old age, are the branches and
the fruits, whose character the root
will determine.
Every man belongs to an econo-
nv IN 1hich he has right to calcu-
late, Or his friends for him, on eighty
wears as a fair term Of life. His
body is placed in a world adapted to
nourish and protect it. Nature is
conoenial. There are elements enough
OF mischief in it if . man pleases to
find them out. A man can wear his
BODY out as quickly as he pleases,
DESTROY it if he will; but, after all,
tie great laws Of nature are nourlsh-
ing laws, and, comprchehsively re-
rarded. nature is the universal nurse,
the universal physician Of our race
guarding US against evil, warning US
Of it by incipient pains, setting up
signals of danger-not outwardly,
but inwardly, and cautioning US by
sorrows and by pains for our benefit
Every immoderate draft which is
made by the appetites and passions
is so much sent forward TO Oe cashed
in old age. We may sin at one end
but God takes it of the other. Every
man has stored up for him some
eighty years, if he knows no" to
keep them, and those eighty years,
like q bank Of deposit, are full OF
treasures; but youth, through ignor'
ance or through immoderate passion,
is wont continually to draw checks
on old age. Men do not suppose
that they are doing it, although told
that the wicked shall not live out
half their days.
Men are accustomed to look upon
the excesses of youth as something
that belongs to that time. They say
that of course the young, like colts
unbridled, will d.sport themselves.
There is no harm in colts disporting
themselves but colt never gets drunk.
lido not object to any amount ofgayety
or vivaclty that lies within the
bounds of reason, or Of health; but l
do reject and abhor, as worthy to be
stigmatized as dishouorable and un-
manly, every such course IN youth
as it takes away strength, vigor and
purity from old age. I do not be-
lieve that any man should take the
candle of his old age and light it by
the vices of his youth. Every man
that transcends natures laws in
youth is taking beforehand those
treasures that are stored up for his
old age; he is taking the food that
should have been his sustenance in
old age. and exhausting it in riotous
living in his youth. Mere gayety
and cXhilaration are wholesome: they
violate no law, moral Or physical.
Il do not object to mirth or gayety,
but I DO object to any mans making
IN animal of himself by living for
the qualification Of his own animal
passions. Ieopie frequently LllhA
that to require in the conduct OF
youth tia: which we expect in later
life, las something of Puritanism in
it. Men have al impression that
youth is very much like wine, crude
and inS:pid until it has fertnented:
ton when it has termented and
thrown down the lees, and the scum
has been drawn Of, the great body
between is sound and wholesome
and beautiful. all not one that
think 50. l think that youth is the
beginning Of the plant life, and that
Every wart or excrescence is 50 muci